Illumination portion for an adaptable resolution optical encoder

ABSTRACT

An illumination portion of an optical encoder comprising a scale track extending along a measuring axis direction, an imaging portion, and a detector configuration. The illumination portion comprises: a light source configured to output source light; a collimation portion; and a structured illumination generating portion comprising a beam-separating portion and an illumination grating and configured to input the source light and output structured illumination to the scale track. The beam-separating portion is arranged to input the source light and output a first source light portion and a second source light portion to the illumination grating, such that they form beams that are spaced apart from one another along the measuring axis direction. The illumination grating is configured to diffract the first and second source light portions to the scale track such that only two orders of diffracted light overlap within an imaged region.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/730,790, filed Dec. 28, 2012, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/717,586, filed Dec. 17, 2012, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/580,133, filed Dec. 23, 2011, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

FIELD

The present application relates generally to precision measurement instruments and more particularly to optical displacement encoders.

BACKGROUND

Various optical displacement encoders are known that use a readhead having an optical arrangement that images a scale pattern to a photodetector arrangement in the readhead. The image of the scale pattern displaces in tandem with the scale member, and the movement or position of the displaced scale pattern image is detected with a photodetector arrangement. Conventional imaging, self-imaging (also called Talbot imaging), and/or shadow imaging may be used to provide the scale pattern image in various configurations.

Optical encoders may utilize incremental or absolute position scale structures. An incremental position scale structure allows the displacement of a readhead relative to a scale to be determined by accumulating incremental units of displacement, starting from an initial point along the scale. Such encoders are suitable for certain applications, particularly those where line power is available. However, in low power consumption applications (e.g., battery powered gauges and the like), it is more desirable to use absolute position scale structures. Absolute position scale structures provide a unique output signal, or combination of signals, at each position along a scale. They do not require continuous accumulation of incremental displacements in order to identify a position. Thus, absolute position scale structures allow various power conservation schemes. A variety of absolute position encoders are known, using various optical, capacitive, or inductive sensing technologies. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,882,482; 5,965,879; 5,279,044; 5,886,519; 5,237,391; 5,442,166; 4,964,727; 4,414,754; 4,109,389; 5,773,820; and 5,010,655 disclose various encoder configurations and/or signal processing techniques relevant to absolute position encoders, and are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

One type of configuration that is utilized in some optical encoders is a telecentric arrangement. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,186,969; 7,307,789; and 7,435,945, each of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, disclose various encoder configurations that utilize either singly or doubly telecentric imaging systems for imaging the periodic pattern of light and sensing displacement of the periodic scale structure. Telecentric imaging systems provide certain desirable features in such optical encoders.

One issue with regard to the design of such optical encoders is that users generally prefer that the readheads and scales of the encoders be as compact as possible. A compact encoder is more convenient to install in a variety of applications. For certain precision measurement applications, high resolution is also required. However, the prior art fails to teach configurations that provide certain combinations of high resolution, range-to-resolution ratio, robustness, compact size, and design features that allow a number of encoder resolutions to be provided using shared manufacturing techniques and components, and that facilitate low cost as desired by users of encoders. Improved configurations of encoders that provide such combinations would be desirable.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The principles disclosed herein are directed to improved optical displacement encoder configurations that provide improved combinations of high resolution, range-to-resolution ratio, compact size, robustness, and that allow a number of encoder resolutions to be provided using shared manufacturing techniques and components.

The disclosure of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/717,586 included the use of a phase grating in an illumination portion to substantially block zero order light from reaching an encoder scale grating in order to diminish related errors in the encoder displacement signals, and other encoder configurations have utilized a blocking portion in an aperture of an imaging configuration to substantially block unwanted zero order light from reaching the detector. However, the inventor(s) have determined that these methods still allow residual zero order light (e.g., on the order of a few percent of the signal light, or less) to produce unwanted periodic errors in the spatially modulated image light provided at the detector configuration. Therefore, further improvements in diminishing zero order light propagation remain desirable in certain encoder configurations.

In various embodiments disclosed herein, an illumination portion of an optical encoder that comprises a scale track extending along a measuring axis direction, an imaging portion, and a detector configuration is disclosed. The illumination portion comprises a light source configured to output source light having a wavelength λ and a structured illumination generating portion configured to input the source light and provide structured illumination, wherein the structured illumination comprises an illumination fringe pattern oriented transversely to the measuring axis direction which is input to the scale track. The scale track is configured to spatially modulate the input illumination fringe pattern and output scale light comprising spatially modulated image light. The detector configuration and imaging configuration are configured such that only scale light arising from an imaged region of the scale track is imaged to the detector configuration. The structured illumination generating portion comprises a beam separating portion and an illumination grating. The beam separating portion is arranged to input the source light and is configured to output a first source light portion and a second source light portion to the illumination grating, such that the first and second source light portions form beams that are spaced apart from one another along the measuring axis direction at a plane proximate to the illumination grating. The illumination grating is configured to diffract the first and second source light portions across an operating gap to the scale track such that only two orders of diffracted light overlap within the imaged region at a plane coinciding with the scale track, and provide the illumination fringe pattern in the imaged region.

In some embodiments, the imaged region may have a dimension D along the measuring axis direction, the first source light portion and the second source light portion may be spaced apart from one another along the measuring axis direction at the plane proximate to the illumination grating by a separation distance B, and the separation distance B may be equal to or greater than the imaged region dimension D. In some embodiments, the first source light portion and the second collimated source light portion may each have a dimension along the measuring axis direction, at the plane proximate to the illumination grating, that is greater than the imaged region dimension D.

In some embodiments, the illumination portion may further comprise a collimation portion arranged to collimate the source light that is input to the beam separating portion.

In some embodiments, the illumination portion may further comprise a collimation portion arranged to collimate the first source light portion and second source light portion that are output to the illumination grating.

In some embodiments, the two orders of diffracted light that overlap within the imaged region at a plane coinciding with the scale track may be a + first order diffracted light from the first source light portion and a − first order diffracted light from the second source light portion.

In some embodiments, the beam separating portion may further comprise a first beam splitting element surface and a reflective surface. The beam splitting element surface may be configured to receive light from the source light source and output the first and second source light portions along a first beam path and transmit the second source light portion toward the reflective surface; and the reflective surface may be configured to reflect the second source light portion direction of the second illumination light portion toward the scale track along a second beam path that is spaced apart from the first beam path. In some embodiments, the beam splitting surface and the reflective surface may be parallel. In some embodiments, the beam splitting surface and the reflective surface may be surfaces of separate elements. In some embodiments, the beam splitting surface and the reflective surface may be surfaces of the same beam splitting element. In some embodiments, the beam splitting element may be a shearing plate. In some embodiments, the first and second beam paths may be approximately perpendicular to the illumination grating.

It will be appreciated that while the methods are primarily described herein in terms of imaging and spatial filtering, such concepts may also be described in terms of the light ray components of the optical system, including diffracted rays, etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partially schematic exploded diagram of an encoder configuration with a doubly telecentric arrangement and a scale with absolute, reference, and incremental track patterns, and utilizing conventional imaging techniques;

FIGS. 2A-2C are diagrams of the incremental scale track pattern, image intensity, and detector arrangement of the encoder configuration of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partially schematic exploded diagram of an encoder configuration with a doubly telecentric arrangement and a scale with absolute, reference, and incremental track patterns, and utilizing spatial filtering and imaging principles in accordance with principles disclosed herein;

FIGS. 4A-4D are diagrams of the illumination fringe pattern, incremental scale track pattern, resulting moiré image intensity, and detector arrangement of the encoder configuration of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a chart illustrating modulation transfer functions corresponding to various sets of design parameters;

FIG. 6 is a chart illustrating the dependence of depth of field (% DOF), spatial harmonic content, and optical signal power on the dimension of an aperture along the measuring axis direction;

FIG. 7 is a partially schematic exploded diagram of one exemplary embodiment of the encoder configuration of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a partially schematic exploded diagram of one exemplary embodiment of the encoder configuration of FIG. 3;

FIG. 9 is a diagram of an alternative configuration of the phase grating portion of the embodiment of FIG. 8;

FIGS. 10A and 10B are diagrams of the scale track pattern arrangements of the encoder configurations of FIGS. 1 and 3, respectively;

FIG. 11 is a table illustrating parameters for various scale and detector track combinations for the encoder configuration of FIG. 3;

FIG. 12 shows a schematic cross-sectional diagram showing differing optical paths through a doubly telecentric imaging encoder arrangement;

FIGS. 13A and 13B show a configuration that is another exemplary embodiment of a practical implementation of an encoder configuration according to principles disclosed herein;

FIG. 14 shows an analysis of the configuration shown in FIG. 13, indicating how a phase grating provides the operational diffraction orders that provide the optical intensity signals on the detector;

FIG. 15 is a partially schematic exploded diagram of an encoder configuration which includes a first alternative embodiment of an illumination portion;

FIG. 16 is a schematic drawing of an encoder configuration which includes a second alternative embodiment of an illumination portion which includes elements in addition to those shown in FIG. 15, and which may be used in a reflective encoder configuration;

FIG. 17 is a drawing of an illumination portion which may be used in an encoder configuration according to the principles disclosed herein;

FIG. 18 is a drawing of an illumination portion which may be used in an encoder configuration according to the principles disclosed herein;

FIG. 19 is a drawing of an illumination portion which may be used in an encoder configuration according to the principles disclosed herein;

FIG. 20 is a drawing of an illumination portion which may be used in an encoder configuration according to the principles disclosed herein;

FIG. 21 is a drawing of an illumination portion which may be used in an encoder configuration according to the principles disclosed herein; and

FIG. 22 is a drawing of an illumination portion which may be used in an encoder configuration according to the principles disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a partially schematic exploded diagram of an optical displacement encoder configuration 100 with a doubly telecentric arrangement and a scale with absolute, reference, and incremental track patterns and utilizing conventional imaging techniques. Certain aspects of the encoder configuration 100 are similar to encoder configurations described in copending and commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/535,561, filed Aug. 4, 2009, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/273,400, filed Nov. 18, 2008 (hereinafter the '400 application), which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. While the encoder configuration 100 is able to operate accurately and effectively with an incremental scale track with a relatively coarse pitch (e.g., 20 microns), as will be described in more detail below with reference to FIG. 3, the methods disclosed herein may be utilized to allow an incremental scale track with a much finer pitch (e.g., 4 microns) to be utilized in a similar configuration.

As shown in FIG. 1, the encoder configuration 100 includes a scale element 110, a lens 140 for directing visible or invisible wavelengths of light from a light source (not shown), and a doubly telecentric imaging configuration 180. The doubly telecentric imaging configuration 180 comprises a first lens 181 at a first lens plane FLP, an aperture 182 in an aperture component 182′ at an aperture plane AP, a second lens 183 at a second lens plane SLP, and detector electronics 120 at a detector plane DP. In at least one embodiment, the scale element 110 is separated from the first lens plane FLP by a distance d₀, the first lens plane FLP is separated from the aperture plane AP by a focal distance f, the aperture plane AP is separated from the second lens plane SLP by a focal distance f′, and the second lens plane SLP is separated from the detector plane DP by a distance d₀′. The detector electronics 120 may be connected to signal-generating and processing circuitry 190. The light source may also be connected to the signal-generating and processing circuitry 190 by power and signal connections (not shown).

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the scale element 110 includes a scale pattern 115 that comprises three scale track patterns: an absolute scale track pattern TABS1, a reference scale track pattern TREF1, and an incremental scale track pattern TINC1. The track pattern TABS1 is referred to as an absolute scale track pattern because it provides signals usable to determine an absolute position over an absolute measuring range. In at least one embodiment, any conventional absolute scale pattern may be utilized for the absolute scale track pattern TABS1. In at least one embodiment, the absolute scale track pattern TABS1 may have a very “coarse” ABS resolution, on the order of the detector dimension along the X axis.

For the incremental scale track pattern TINC1, in at least one embodiment the incremental pitch may be relatively coarse (e.g., 20 microns). As will be described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 3, a finer pitch (e.g., 4 microns) may be made to be operable in a similarly sized encoder configuration by utilizing the methods disclosed herein. The reference scale track pattern TREF1 is formed so that it can be resolved to a level that allows it to indicate a particular incremental wavelength, so that the incremental wavelength (e.g., from the incremental scale track pattern TINC1) is not ambiguous relative to an absolute mark (e.g., from the absolute scale track pattern TABS1). As will be described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 10A, in at least one embodiment, the reference scale track pattern TREF1 may comprise a series of reference marks. In at least one embodiment, the reference marks may be formed as a series of barker patterns, which may also function as Vernier reference marks, and which may be formed according to a variety of known techniques.

FIG. 1 shows orthogonal X, Y, and Z directions, according to a convention used herein. The X and Y directions are parallel to the plane of the scale pattern 115, with the X direction parallel to the intended measuring axis direction MA 82 (e.g., perpendicular to elongated pattern elements that may be included in the incremental scale track pattern TINC1). The Z direction is normal to the plane of the scale pattern 115.

The detector electronics 120 include a detector configuration 125 comprising three detector tracks DETABS1, DETREF1. and DETINC1, which are arranged to receive light from the three scale track patterns TABS1, TREF1, and TINC1, respectively. The detector electronics 120 may also include signal processing circuitry 126 (e.g., signal offset and/or gain adjustments, signal-amplifying and combining circuits, etc.). In at least one embodiment, the detector electronics 120 may be fabricated as a single CMOS IC.

In operation, as exemplified by the image channel for the incremental scale track pattern TINC1, the light from the illumination source is directed by the lens 140 to illuminate the incremental scale track pattern TINC1 with source light 131. In some embodiments, the source light 131 is coherent light. The incremental scale track pattern TINC1 then outputs scale light 132. It will be appreciated that the limiting aperture 182, which has an aperture width AW along the X direction, acts as a spatial filter (as will be described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 2) to select or limit the light rays that pass through the image channel for the incremental scale track pattern TINC1. FIG. 1 illustrates three such light rays, two extreme rays and one central ray. As shown in FIG. 1, the lens 181 transmits the light rays towards the limiting aperture 182. The limiting aperture 182 transmits the rays as spatially filtered image light 133 to the second lens 183, and the second lens 183 transmits and focuses the spatially filtered image light to form an image of the scale track pattern TINC1 at the detector track DETINC1.

Thus, when the incremental scale track pattern TINC1 is illuminated, it outputs a track-specific spatially modulated light pattern to the detector track DETINC1 of the detector electronics 120. An image of the spatially modulated light pattern is formed at an image plane IMGP, which may be made to be coplanar with the detector track DETINC1 (the image plane IMGP being shown separately in FIG. 1 for purposes of illustration). As shown in the image plane IMGP, the pattern of the scale image SI has a modulated scale image pitch P_(SI), which, in one specific example embodiment, may be relatively coarse (e.g., 20 microns).

Similar to the imaging of the spatially modulated light pattern from the incremental scale track pattern TINC1 on the detector track DETINC1, when the scale track patterns TREF1 and TABS1 are illuminated by the light from the lens 140, they output track-specific spatially modulated light patterns (e.g., patterned light corresponding to their patterns) to the track-specific detector tracks DETREF1 and DETABS1, respectively, of the detector electronics 120. As noted above, the reference scale track pattern TREF1 (e.g., with barker patterns) indicates a particular incremental wavelength, so that the wavelength from the incremental scale track pattern TINC1 is not ambiguous relative to the absolute mark from the absolute scale track pattern TABS1. It will be appreciated that all of the spatially modulated light patterns move in tandem with the scale 110.

As will be described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 11, in each of the detector tracks DETINC1, DETABS1, and DETREF1, individual photodetector areas are arranged to spatially filter their respectively received spatially modulated light patterns to provide desirable position-indicating signals (e.g., the incremental detector track DETINC1 producing quadrature signals, or other periodic signals having a spatial phase relationship that is conducive to signal interpolation). In some embodiments, rather than individual photodetector areas, a spatial filter mask with individual apertures may mask relatively larger photodetectors to provide light-receiving areas analogous to the individual photodetector areas, to provide a similar overall signal effect according to known techniques.

In various applications, the detector electronics and light source are mounted in a fixed relationship relative to one another, e.g., in a readhead or gauge housing (not shown), and are guided along the measuring axis relative to the scale 110 by a bearing system, according to known techniques. The scale may be attached to a moving stage, or a gauge spindle, or the like, in various applications. It will be appreciated that the configuration shown in FIG. 1 is a transmissive configuration. That is, the scale pattern 115 comprises light blocking portions and light transmitting portions (e.g., fabricated on a transparent substrate using known thin-film patterning techniques, or the like) that output the spatially modulated light patterns to the detector tracks by transmission. It will be appreciated that similar components may be arranged in reflective embodiments, wherein the light source and the detector electronics are arranged on the same side of the scale 110, and positioned for angled illumination and reflection if necessary, according to known techniques.

In either transmissive or reflective scale patterns, the portions of the scale pattern that provide the light that is detected by the detector tracks (e.g., DETABS1, DETREF1, or DETINC1) may be referred to as the signal-producing portions of the scale pattern, and it will be understood that other portions of the scale pattern generally provide as little light as possible to the detector tracks and may be referred to as signal-diminishing portions. It will be appreciated that the signal-producing portions or the signal-diminishing portions of the scale pattern may be patterned according to the teachings herein, in various embodiments. Stated another way, scale patterns which are “negatives” of each other may both produce useable signals, with the resulting signal variations also being approximately the “negative” of each other for a given reflective or transmissive arrangement. Thus, the scale patterns may be described in terms of “signal-varying portions,” and it will be understood that in various embodiments, the signal-varying portions may comprise either the signal-producing portions or the signal-diminishing portions of the scale pattern.

FIGS. 2A-2C illustrate various aspects related to the optical signal channel corresponding to the incremental scale track pattern TINC1 of FIG. 1. More specifically, FIG. 2A illustrates the incremental scale track pattern TINC1 which has a scale pitch P_(SL). FIG. 2B is a graph of the resulting image intensity signal IMG1 from the light from the incremental scale track TINC1 at the detector plane DP. As shown in FIG. 2B, the resulting image intensity has been spatially filtered (e.g., by the aperture 182) so as to produce an approximately sinusoidal signal (e.g., as opposed to a square wave signal, such as would be produced from a non-filtered signal from the incremental scale track pattern TINC1) and has a signal period P_(ISC). FIG. 2C is a diagram of the incremental detector track DETINC1 which, for purposes of illustration, has an image of the image intensity signal IMG1 from FIG. 2B superimposed upon it. As shown in FIG. 2C, the detector track DETINC1 is connected so as to output quadrature signals, with four detector elements being within one period of the detector track wavelength λ_(d), which also corresponds to one period P_(ISC) of the image intensity signal IMG1.

FIG. 3 is a partially schematic exploded diagram of an encoder configuration 300 with a doubly telecentric arrangement and a scale with absolute, reference, and incremental track patterns, and utilizing spatial filtering and imaging techniques in accordance with the principles disclosed herein. Certain of the components and operating principles of the encoder configuration 300 are approximately similar to those of the encoder configuration 100 of FIG. 1, and may generally be understood by analogy. For example, 3XX series numbers in FIG. 3 that have the same “XX” suffix as 1XX series numbers in FIG. 1 may designate similar or identical elements that may function similarly, except as otherwise described or implied below.

As shown in FIG. 3, the encoder configuration 300 includes a scale element 310, an illumination system or portion 360, and a doubly telecentric imaging configuration 380. The illumination system or portion 360 includes a light source 330 (e.g., an LED) for emitting visible or invisible wavelengths of light, a lens 340, and a phase grating 350. As will be described in more detail below, the phase grating 350 may, in at least one embodiment, be utilized for producing structured light patterns and may be located within the optical signal path channels for the incremental and reference scale track patterns TINC2 and TREF2, but not the absolute scale track pattern TABS2. The doubly telecentric imaging configuration 380 comprises a first lens 381 at a first lens plane FLP, an aperture 382 in an aperture component 382′ at an aperture plane AP, a second lens 383 at a second lens plane SLP, and detector electronics 320 at a detector plane DP. The detector electronics 320 may be connected to signal-generating and processing circuitry 390. The light source 330 may also be connected to the signal-generating and processing circuitry 390 by power and signal connections (not shown).

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the scale element 310 includes a scale pattern 315 that comprises three scale track patterns: an absolute scale track pattern TABS2, a reference scale track pattern TREF2, and an incremental scale track pattern TINC2. In at least one embodiment, a conventional absolute scale track pattern may be utilized for the absolute scale track pattern TABS2. In at least one embodiment, the absolute scale track pattern TABS2 may have a relatively “coarse” ABS resolution, on the order of the detector dimension along the X axis.

As will be described in more detail below, the encoder configuration 300 is designed to utilize certain spatial filtering and imaging principles that allow a fine pitch scale to provide larger pitch fringes that correspond to the detector element pitch of an economical detector that senses the scale displacement. In order to produce the desired fringes, the phase grating 350 is an illumination grating which is designed to have a pitch that is close to the pitch of the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 and the reference scale track pattern TREF2 (e.g., a phase grating pitch of 5 microns as compared to an incremental scale track pitch of 4 microns, and a reference scale track pitch of 4.1 microns). The resulting fringe period from the phase grating 350 and incremental scale track pattern TINC2 may be relatively coarse (e.g., 20 microns) and may be slightly different than the fringe period produced by the phase grating 350 and the reference scale track pattern TREF2 (e.g., 22.77 microns).

As will be described in more detail below, the detected pattern is imaged with spatial filtering by the double telecentric imaging configuration 380, including the aperture 382 that blurs out or removes the high spatial frequencies corresponding to the incremental and reference scale track patterns TINC2 and TREF2. In certain implementations, the parameters are chosen so that the resulting modulated image pitch of the spatially filtered pattern matches the pitch of a predetermined given detector (e.g., a detector designed for a 20 micron incremental scale track pitch). Suitable aperture dimensions may be chosen to achieve the desired effect of the spatial filtering that removes the high spatial frequencies and results in the desired pattern fringe period. Certain teachings regarding such aperture dimensions for achieving desired spatial wavelength filtering are described in more detail in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,186,969, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

As will be described in more detail below with reference to FIG. 10B, in at least one embodiment, the reference scale track pattern TREF2 may include a series of reference marks which may be formed as barker patterns. The reference marks may also serve as Vernier reference marks. The reference scale track pattern TREF2 is designed so that it can be resolved to a level that allows it to indicate a particular incremental wavelength for the incremental scale track pattern TINC2, so that the incremental wavelengths are not ambiguous relative to an absolute mark from the absolute scale track pattern TABS2. In at least one embodiment, the combination of the reference track pattern TREF2 (e.g., a barker pattern) and the incremental track pattern TINC2 may create a synthetic wavelength whose measured synthetic phase points to the correct incremental scale track pattern cycle (e.g., a measured synthetic phase of zero may indicate a correct incremental cycle corresponding to that phase).

As a specific example, the reference scale track pattern TREF2 may have a slightly different pitch (e.g., 4.1 microns producing a modulated and spatially filtered fringe pattern with a period of 22.77 microns) as compared to the pitch of the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 (e.g., 4.0 microns producing a modulated and spatially filtered fringe pattern with a period of 20 microns) so that the reference scale track pattern phase matches the incremental scale track pattern phase only at one specific point along a specified length (e.g., only matches at one point along a barker pattern length within the reference scale track pattern). The position where the phases match defines a particular incremental wavelength for the incremental scale track pattern TINC2.

In one specific example embodiment, in the reference scale track pattern TREF2, barker patterns may be provided at selected intervals (e.g., 0.6 millimeters). The phase of each barker pattern (e.g., at the center of the pattern) matches (or has a constant phase offset from) the phase of the incremental scale track pattern TINC1 at the locations that are the specified distance (e.g., 0.6 millimeters) apart. The synthetic wavelength of the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 and the reference scale track pattern TREF2 is larger than the barker pattern length. In at least one embodiment, this relationship may be expressed by stating that the synthetic wavelength of the incremental scale track pattern and the reference (e.g., barker) scale track pattern is larger than the barker pattern length L, such that L<pp′/(p′−p), where p is the pitch of the incremental scale track pattern TINC2, and p′ is the pitch of the barker pattern in the reference scale track pattern TREF2.

As shown in FIG. 3, the detector electronics 320 includes a detector configuration 325 comprising three detector tracks, DETABS2, DETREF2, and DETINC2, arranged to receive light from the three scale track patterns, TABS2, TREF2, and TINC2, respectively. The detector electronics 320 may also include signal processing circuitry 326 (e.g., signal offset and/or gain adjustments, signal-amplifying and combining circuits, etc.). In at least one embodiment, the detector electronics 320 may be fabricated as a single CMOS IC.

In operation, light 331 (e.g., primary light) emitted from the light source 330 may be partially or fully collimated by the lens 340 over a beam area sufficient to illuminate the three scale track patterns TABS2, TREF2, and TINC2. The phase grating 350 is sized to diffract the source light to provide diffracted structured light 331′ to the reference and incremental scale track patterns TREF2 and TINC2 (but not the absolute scale track pattern TABS2), in order to achieve the modulated and spatially filtered imaging effects described above. Then, as exemplified by the image channel for the incremental scale track pattern TINC2, the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 provides scale light 332 to the lens 381. It will be appreciated that the limiting aperture 382, which has an aperture width AW along the X-axis direction, acts as a spatial filter (as will be described in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 4 and 12) to select or limit the light rays that pass through the image channels. FIG. 3 illustrates three such light rays, two extreme rays and one central ray. As shown in FIG. 3, the lens 381 transmits the light rays towards the limiting aperture 382. The limiting aperture 382 transmits the rays as spatially filtered image light 333 to the second lens 383, and the second lens 383 transmits and focuses the spatially filtered image light to form a spatially modulated light pattern at the detector track DETINC2. As noted above, and as will be described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 4, in accordance with the principles disclosed herein the spatially modulated light pattern at the detector track DETINC comprises a modulated and spatially filtered fringe pattern.

Similarly, when the scale track patterns TREF2 and TABS2 are illuminated, they output track-specific spatially modulated light patterns (e.g., patterned light corresponding to their patterns) to the track-specific detector tracks DETREF2 and DETABS2, respectively, of the detector electronics 320. As noted above, the spatially modulated light pattern at the detector track DETREF2 also comprises a modulated and spatially filtered imaged fringe pattern. It will be appreciated that all of the spatially modulated light patterns move in tandem with the scale 310. In optical signal channels corresponding to each of the detector tracks DETINC2, DETABS2, and DETREF2, individual photodetector areas are arranged to spatially filter their respectively received spatially modulated light patterns to provide desirable position-indicating signals (e.g., for the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 producing quadrature signals, or other periodic signals having a spatial phase relationship that is conducive to signal interpolation). In some embodiments, rather than individual photodetector areas, a spatial filter mask with individual apertures may mask relatively larger photodetectors to provide light-receiving areas analogous to the individual photodetector areas illustrated in order to provide a similar overall signal effect according to known techniques.

In various applications, the detector electronics 320 and light source 330 are mounted in a fixed relationship relative to one another, e.g., in a readhead or gauge housing (not shown), and are guided along the measuring axis relative to the scale 310 by a bearing system, according to known techniques. The scale may be attached to a moving stage, or a gauge spindle, or the like, in various applications.

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate various aspects related to the optical signal channel corresponding to the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 of FIG. 3. More specifically, FIG. 4A illustrates the illumination fringe pattern IFP produced by the phase grating 350. The illumination fringe pattern IFP is shown to have a pitch P_(MI) (e.g., 5 microns). FIG. 4B illustrates the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 which has a scale pitch P_(SF) (e.g., 4 microns). FIG. 4C is a graph of the resulting image intensity signal IMG2 from the light from the combination of the fringe grating 350 and the incremental scale track TINC2 at the detector plane DP. As shown in FIG. 4C, the resulting image intensity includes moiré fringes with a beat frequency with an overall sinusoidal envelope pattern that has a modulated image pitch P_(IMESF) (e.g., 20 microns.) As described above, the image intensity has been spatially filtered (e.g., by the aperture 182) so as to filter out the high-frequency signals HFS from the phase grating 350 and incremental scale track pattern TINC2 in order to produce the approximately sinusoidal envelope signal for the moiré imaged fringes, with the resulting modulated image pitch P_(IMESF).

In various embodiments, the aperture 350 is configured such that the aperture width AW=F*λ*(a/(P_(MI)P_(SF)(P_(MI)−P_(SF)))), where a is greater than 2.0 and less than 6.0. The spatially modulated image light comprises fringes (shown in detail in FIG. 4C) formed from the interference of two diffractive orders which differ by a value Δn. For example, in some embodiments, if the moiré image intensity signal IMG2 comes from the overlap of a +1 and a −1 diffractive order component of the scale light 332, then Δn=2. In other exemplary embodiments, Δn may be 1 or 4. The image intensity signal IMG2 is modulated by an intensity modulation envelope that has a spatial wavelength P_(IMESF) that depends on the scale pitch P_(SF) and the illumination fringe pitch P_(MI), and P_(SF) and P_(MI) are selected to cooperate with a detector pitch Pd of the detector track DETINC2 such that ΔnP_(MI)P_(SF)/(ΔnP_(MI)−P_(SF))=P_(IMESF)=m*Pd/k when the light source outputs incoherent light and ΔnP_(MI)P_(SF)/(2ΔnP_(MI)−P_(SF))=P_(IMESF)=m*Pd/k when the light source outputs incoherent light, where m is a number of phase signals output by the detector configuration and k is an odd integer, wherein the spatial wavelength P_(IMESF) is larger than the scale pitch P_(SF).

A series of vertical reference lines VRL drawn between FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4C provide an indication of signal levels from the illumination fringe pattern of FIG. 4A that pass through the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 of FIG. 4B, and appear as corresponding signal intensities in the resulting moiré image intensity of FIG. 4C. FIG. 4D is a diagram of the incremental detector track DETINC2 that, for purposes of illustration, has an image of the beat frequency envelope of the moiré image intensity signal IMG2 from FIG. 4C superimposed upon it. As shown in FIG. 4D, the detector track DETINC2 is connected so as to output quadrature signals, with four detector elements being within one period of the detector pitch Pd, which also corresponds to one period P_(IMESF) of the moiré image intensity signal IMG2.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show basic design reference information included in FIGS. 26 and 27, respectively, of the previously incorporated U.S. Pat. No. 7,186,969. The use of FIGS. 5 and 6 in relation to the selection of aperture sizes in various embodiments may be understood based on the disclosure of the '969 patent, and will not be described in detail herein. However, the related teachings may be used in the context of this disclosure. Much of the description of the '969 patent is in terms of incoherent illumination. One skilled in the art will make appropriate adaptations to its teachings based on known considerations related to the differences between incoherent and coherent illumination in imaging systems.

FIG. 7 is a partially schematic exploded diagram of an encoder configuration 700 that is one exemplary embodiment of a practical implementation of the encoder configuration 100 of FIG. 1. Certain of the components and operating principles of the encoder configuration 700 are approximately similar to those of the encoder configuration 100 of FIG. 1, and may generally be understood by analogy. For example, the 7XX series numbers in FIG. 7 that have the same “XX” suffix as 1XX series numbers in FIG. 1 may designate similar or identical elements, which may function similarly, except as otherwise described or implied below.

As shown in FIG. 7, the encoder configuration 700 includes a scale element 710, an illumination system or portion 760, and a doubly telecentric imaging configuration 780. The illumination system or portion 760 includes a light source 730 (e.g., an LED) for emitting visible or invisible wavelengths of light, a lens 740, and a beam splitter 755. The doubly telecentric imaging configuration 780 comprises a first lens array 781 at a first lens plane FLP, an aperture array 782 in an aperture component 782′ at an aperture plane AP, a second lens array 783 at a second lens plane SLP, and detector electronics 720 at a detector plane DP. The detector electronics 720 may be connected to signal-generating and processing circuitry (not shown). The light source 730 may also be connected to the signal-generating and processing circuitry by power and signal connections (not shown).

With regard to the lens arrays 781 and 783 and the aperture array 782, it will be appreciated that each of these include individual elements that are similar to the first lens 181, aperture 182, and second lens 183 of the encoder configuration 100 of FIG. 1. In FIG. 7, in each of the arrays, each of the individual elements similarly cooperate to provide an individual image path or channel which may be referred to as an image channel or image channel configuration. Each of the image channels operates similarly to the image channel for the single lenses and aperture of the encoder configuration 100 described above with respect to FIG. 1. In the embodiment of FIG. 7, the multiple image channels are utilized to provide additional levels of robustness for the system with respect to contamination, defects, scale waviness, etc., in that if a single image channel becomes contaminated or otherwise inhibited, the remaining image channels may still continue to provide accurate imaging of the scale patterns.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the scale element 710 includes a scale pattern 715 that comprises the three scale track patterns described above with respect to FIG. 1, including: the absolute scale track pattern TABS1, the reference scale track pattern TREF1, and the incremental scale track pattern TINC1. In at least one embodiment, the absolute scale track pattern TABS1 may have a very “coarse” ABS resolution, on the order of the detector dimension along the X axis.

For the incremental scale track pattern TINC1, in at least one embodiment, the incremental pitch may be relatively coarse (e.g., 20 microns). As will be described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 8, a finer pitch (e.g., 4 microns) may be implemented in a similarly sized encoder configuration in accordance with the principles disclosed herein. As will be described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 10A, in at least one embodiment, the reference scale track pattern TREF1 may comprise a series of reference marks, which may be formed as a series of barker patterns, which may also serve as Vernier reference marks, and which may be formed according to a variety of known techniques.

The detector electronics 720 includes a detector configuration 725 comprising the three detector tracks DETABS1, DETREF1, and DETINC1, which are arranged to receive light from the three scale track patterns TABS1, TREF1, and TINC1, respectively. The detector electronics 720 may also include signal processing circuitry (e.g., signal offset and/or gain adjustments, signal-amplifying and combining circuits, etc.). In at least one embodiment, the detector electronics 720 may be fabricated as a single CMOS IC.

In operation, light 731 (e.g., primary light) emitted from the light source 730 may be partially or fully collimated by the lens 740 and is directed through the beamsplitter 755 over a beam area sufficient to illuminate the three scale track patterns TABS1, TREF1, and TINC1. Then, as exemplified by the image channel for the incremental scale track pattern TINC1, the incremental scale track pattern TINC1 provides scale light 732 that is redirected by the beam splitter 755 toward the lens array 781. It will be appreciated that each limiting aperture of the aperture array 782, each of which has an aperture width AW along the X direction, acts as a spatial filter (as described above with respect to FIG. 2) to select or limit the light rays that pass through the given image channel for the incremental scale track pattern TINC1. As shown in FIG. 7, for each image channel, the corresponding lenses of the lens array 781 transmit the light rays towards the corresponding apertures of the limiting aperture array 782. The corresponding apertures of the limiting aperture array 782 then transmit the rays as spatially filtered image light 733 to the respective lenses of the second lens array 783, and the respective lenses of the second lens array 783 transmit and focus the spatially filtered image light to form respective spatially modulated light patterns corresponding to the respective portions of the incremental scale track pattern TINC1 at the respective portions of the detector track DETINC1.

Thus, when the incremental scale track pattern TINC1 is illuminated, it outputs a series of track-specific spatially modulated light patterns to the respective portions of the detector track DETINC1 of the detector electronics 720, corresponding to each respective image channel. An image of the spatially modulated light patterns is formed at an image plane IMGP, which may be made to be coplanar with the detector track DETINC1.

Similar to the imaging of the spatially modulated light patterns from the incremental scale track pattern TINC1 on the detector track DETINC1, when the scale track patterns TREF1 and TABS1 are illuminated by the light from the lens 740, they output track-specific spatially modulated light patterns (e.g., patterned light corresponding to their patterns) to the track-specific detector tracks DETREF1 and DETABS1, respectively, of the detector electronics 720. As noted above, the reference scale track pattern TREF1 (e.g., with barker patterns) can be resolved to indicate a particular incremental wavelength, so that the wavelength from the incremental scale track pattern TINC1 is not ambiguous relative to the absolute mark from the absolute scale track pattern TABS1. It will be appreciated that all of the spatially modulated light patterns move in tandem with the scale 710. In each of the detector tracks DETINC1, DETABS1. and DETREF1, individual photodetector areas are arranged to spatially filter their respectively received spatially modulated light patterns to provide desirable position-indicating signals (e.g., the incremental detector track DETINC1 producing quadrature signals, or other periodic signals having a spatial phase relationship that is conducive to signal interpolation).

In various applications, the detector electronics and light source are mounted in a fixed relationship relative to one another, e.g., in a readhead or gauge housing (not shown), and are guided along the measuring axis relative to the scale 710 by a bearing system, according to known techniques. The scale may be attached to a moving stage, or a gauge spindle, or the like, in various applications. The configuration shown in FIG. 7 is a reflective configuration. That is, the light source and the detector electronics are arranged on the same side of the scale 710, and positioned for angled illumination and reflection, according to known techniques. Thus, the scale pattern 715 comprises light-absorbing portions and light-reflecting portions (e.g., fabricated on a substrate using known reflecting techniques) that output the spatially modulated light patterns to the detector tracks by reflection. It will be appreciated that similar components may be arranged in transmissive embodiments (e.g., see FIG. 1).

FIG. 8 is a partially schematic exploded diagram of an encoder configuration 800 that is one exemplary embodiment of a practical implementation of the encoder configuration 300 of FIG. 3. Certain of the components and operating principles of the encoder configuration 800 are approximately similar to those of the encoder configuration 300 of FIG. 3, and may generally be understood by analogy. For example, the 8XX series numbers in FIG. 8 that have the same “XX” suffix as 3XX series numbers in FIG. 3 may designate similar or identical elements, which may function similarly, except as otherwise described or implied below.

As shown in FIG. 8, the encoder configuration 800 includes a scale element 810, an illumination system or portion 860, and a doubly telecentric imaging configuration 880. The illumination system or portion 860 includes a light source 830 (e.g., an LED) for emitting visible or invisible wavelengths of light, a lens 840, a phase grating 850, and a beam splitter 855. As will be described in more detail below, the phase grating 850 may, in at least one embodiment, be placed and sized within the image channels for the incremental and reference scale track patterns TINC2 and TREF2, but not the absolute scale track pattern TABS2. The doubly telecentric imaging configuration 880 comprises a first lens array 881 at a first lens plane FLP, an aperture array 882 at an aperture plane AP, a second lens array 883 at a second lens plane SLP, and a detector electronics 820 at a detector plane DP. It will be appreciated that the lens arrays 881 and 883, and the aperture array 882, are arranged and operate similarly to the lens arrays 781 and 783 and the aperture array 782 described above with respect to FIG. 7. The detector electronics 820 may be connected to signal-generating and processing circuitry (not shown). The light source 830 may also be connected to the signal-generating and processing circuitry by power and signal connections (not shown).

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, the scale element 810 includes a scale pattern 815 that comprises the three scale track patterns described above with respect to FIG. 3, including the absolute scale track pattern TABS2, the reference scale track pattern TREF2, and the incremental scale track pattern TINC2. In at least one embodiment, the absolute scale track pattern TABS2 may have a relatively “coarse” ABS resolution, on the order of the detector dimension along the X-axis. As described above with respect to FIG. 3, the reference scale track pattern TREF2 and the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 are utilized and imaged in accordance with the spatial filtering and imaging principles disclosed herein.

As shown in FIG. 8, the detector electronics 820 includes a detector configuration 825 comprising the three detector tracks DETABS2, DETREF2, and DETINC2, arranged to receive light from the three scale track patterns TABS2, TREF2, and TINC2, respectively. The detector electronics 820 may also include signal processing circuitry (e.g., signal offset and/or gain adjustments, signal-amplifying and combining circuits, etc.). In at least one embodiment, the detector electronics 820 may be fabricated as a single CMOS IC.

In operation, light 831 (e.g., primary light) emitted from the light source 830 may be partially or fully collimated by the lens 840 and directed through the beam splitter 855 over a beam area sufficient to illuminate the three scale track patterns TABS2, TREF2, and TINC2. The phase grating 850 is sized to diffract the source light to provide diffracted structured light 831′ to the reference and incremental scale track patterns TREF2 and TINC2 (but not the absolute scale track pattern TABS2). Then, as exemplified by the image channel for the incremental scale track pattern TINC2, the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 outputs scale light 832 that is redirected by the beam splitter 855 toward the lens array 881. It will be appreciated that each limiting aperture of the aperture array 882, each of which has an aperture width AW along the X direction, acts as a spatial filter (as described above with respect to FIG. 4) to select or limit the light rays that pass through the given image channels. In other words, as described above, the spatial filtering effectively blurs out the high-frequency portions of the images produced by the phase grating and incremental scale track patterns, so that the remaining signal primarily consists of the modulation which may be thought of as the beat frequency between the fringe pitch of the structured illumination and the pitch of the scale grating. The resulting modulated image pitch is a measurement of the period of that beat frequency envelope.

As shown in FIG. 8, for each image channel, the corresponding lenses of the lens array 881 transmit the light rays towards the corresponding apertures of the limiting aperture array 882. The corresponding apertures of the limiting aperture array 882 transmit the rays as spatially filtered image light 833 to the respective lenses of the second lens array 883, and the respective lenses of the second lens array 883 transmit and focus the spatially filtered image light to form respective spatially modulated light patterns corresponding to the respective portions of the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 at the respective portions of the detector track DETINC2. As described above with respect to FIG. 4, in accordance with the principles disclosed herein, the spatially modulated light patterns at the detector track DETINC2 comprise modulated and spatially filtered imaged fringe patterns.

Similarly, when the scale track patterns TREF2 and TABS2 are illuminated, they output track-specific spatially modulated light patterns to the track-specific detector tracks DETREF2 and DETABS2, respectively, of the detector electronics 820. As noted above, the spatially modulated light patterns at the reference detector track DETREF2 also comprise modulated and spatially filtered imaged fringe patterns. It will be appreciated that all of the spatially modulated light patterns move in tandem with the scale 810. In optical signal channels corresponding to each of the detector tracks DETINC2, DETABS2, and DETREF2, individual photodetector areas are arranged to spatially filter their respectively received spatially modulated light patterns to provide desirable position-indicating signals (e.g., the incremental detector track DETINC2 producing quadrature signals, or other periodic signals having a spatial phase relationship that is conducive to signal interpolation).

In various applications, the detector electronics 820 and light source 830 are mounted in a fixed relationship relative to one another, e.g., in a readhead or gauge housing (not shown), and are guided along the measuring axis relative to the scale 810 by a bearing system, according to known techniques. The scale may be attached to a moving stage, or a gauge spindle, or the like, in various applications. The configuration shown in FIG. 8 is a reflective configuration. That is, the light source 830 and the detector electronics 820 are arranged on the same side of the scale 810 and positioned for angled illumination and reflection, according to known techniques. Thus, the scale pattern 815 comprises light-absorbing portions and light-reflecting portions (e.g., fabricated on a substrate using known techniques) that output the spatially modulated light patterns to the detector tracks by reflection. It will be appreciated that similar components may be arranged in transmissive embodiments (e.g., see FIG. 3).

FIG. 9 is a diagram of an encoder configuration 900 illustrating an alternative embodiment of the phase grating portion of the encoder configuration 800 of FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 9, the encoder configuration 900 includes a scale element 910, a light source 930, a lens 940, two phase gratings 950A and 950B, and a beam splitter 955. A primary difference from the encoder configuration 800 of FIG. 8 is that, rather than utilizing a single phase grating 850, the encoder configuration 900 utilizes two phase gratings 950A and 950B. In one specific example embodiment, the phase grating 950A may be a 0.92 micron phase grating, while the phase grating 950B may be a 0.84 micron phase grating with air gap (no coupling). This configuration allows for a compact design, in that the phase grating 950B does not require the light beams output by the phase grating 950A to completely separate. In one specific example embodiment, after the transmission of the light through the phase gratings 950A and 950B, light fringes are produced with a specified period (e.g., 5 microns), which in combination with the pitch of the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 (e.g., 4 microns), produces modulated and spatially filtered fringes with a specified period (e.g., 20 microns.)

FIGS. 10A and 10B are diagrams of the scale track pattern arrangements of the encoder configurations of FIGS. 1 and 3, respectively. As shown in FIG. 10A, the scale track pattern arrangement 1000A includes the absolute scale track pattern TABS1, the reference scale track pattern TREF1, and the incremental scale track pattern TINC1. As described above, the absolute scale track pattern TABS1 provides signals usable to determine an absolute position over an absolute measuring range, which, in the embodiment of FIG. 10A, are illustrated as including coded signal portions which indicate absolute positions along the scale track pattern.

For the incremental scale track pattern TINC1, the incremental pitch is illustrated as being relatively coarse (e.g., 20 microns.) In the section of the reference scale track pattern TREF1 shown in FIG. 10A, four reference mark patterns RM1A-RM1D are illustrated, and are shown to occur at specified intervals. In at least one embodiment, the reference marks may be formed as barker patterns, which may be formed according to a variety of known techniques. The reference mark patterns may also function as Vernier reference marks. As described above, the reference scale track pattern TREF1 is able to be resolved to a level that allows it to indicate a particular incremental wavelength, so that the incremental wavelength (e.g., from the incremental scale track pattern TINC1) is not ambiguous relative to an absolute mark (e.g., from the absolute scale track pattern TABS1). As shown in FIG. 10A, the scale has an overall width dimension X1, while the area covered by the scale track patterns TABS1, TREF1, and TINC1 has a width dimension X2. In one specific example embodiment, the dimension X1 is equal to 13 millimeters, while the dimension X2 is equal to 3.9 millimeters.

As shown in FIG. 10B, the scale track pattern arrangement 1000B includes the absolute scale track pattern TABS2, the reference scale track pattern TREF2, and the incremental scale track pattern TINC2. The various possible dimensions and configurations for the scale track patterns will be described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 11. In general, it will be appreciated that the scale track pattern arrangement 1000B is designed to be approximately the same size as the scale track pattern arrangement 1000A of FIG. 10A, such that the scale track pattern arrangement 1000B can be substituted into an encoder configuration that is otherwise designed for the scale track pattern arrangement 1000A. As shown in FIG. 10B, the absolute scale track pattern TABS2 provides signals usable to determine an absolute position over an absolute measuring range, and may comprise coded portions similar to those of the absolute scale track pattern TABS1 of FIG. 10A. In at least one embodiment, the absolute scale track pattern TABS2 may have a very coarse ABS resolution, on the order of the detector dimension along the X axis.

As shown in FIG. 10B, the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 is illustrated as having a much finer pitch (e.g., 4 microns) as compared to the pitch of the incremental scale track pattern TINC1 of FIG. 10A (e.g., 20 microns). The portion of the reference scale track pattern TREF2 shown in FIG. 10B is illustrated as including a series of four reference mark patterns RM2A-RM2D. The reference mark patterns RM2A-RM2D may be formed as barker patterns, according to a variety of known techniques. The reference mark patterns may also function as Vernier reference marks. The reference scale track pattern TREF2 is designed so it can be resolved to a level that allows it to indicate a particular incremental wavelength for the incremental scale track pattern TINC2, so that the incremental wavelengths are not ambiguous relative to an absolute mark from the absolute scale track pattern TABS2. In at least one embodiment, the combination of the modulated and spatially filtered images of the reference track pattern TREF2 and the incremental track pattern TINC2 create a synthetic wavelength for which the measured synthetic phase points to the correct incremental scale track pattern cycle (e.g., a measured synthetic phase of zero may indicate a correct incremental cycle corresponding to that phase).

As an example, in the embodiment of FIG. 10B, each of the reference mark patterns RM2A-RM2D is shown to have a corresponding phase marker PHS2A-PHS2D, which indicates a point at which a perfectly aligned phase would occur for each position. In other words, in the reference scale track pattern TREF2, the reference mark patterns (e.g., patterns RM2A-RM2D) are provided at selected intervals (e.g., 0.6 millimeters). The phase of each reference mark pattern (e.g., at the center of each pattern where the phase markers PHS2A-PHS2D occur) matches (or has a constant phase offset from) the phase of the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 at the locations that are the specified distance (e.g., 0.6 millimeters) apart. The synthetic phase of the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 and the reference scale track pattern TREF2 is larger than the reference mark pattern length (i.e., is larger than the length of each of the individual barker patterns).

As described above, the reference scale track pattern TREF2 (with the reference mark patterns) is designed to produce the same kind of modulated and spatially filtered images as the incremental scale track pattern TINC2. In order to produce the modulated and spatially filtered imaging, a phase grating is utilized that has a pitch that is close to the pitch of the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 and the reference scale track pattern TREF2 (e.g., a phase grating pitch of 5 microns as compared to an incremental scale track pitch of 4 microns, and a reference scale track pitch of 4.1 microns). The resulting modulated and spatially filtered imaged fringe period from the phase grating and the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 may be relatively coarse (e.g., 20 microns) and may be slightly different than the modulated and spatially filtered imaged fringe period produced by the phase grating and reference scale track pattern TREF2 (e.g., 22.77 microns).

By making the reference scale track pattern TREF2 have a slightly different pitch (e.g., 4.1 microns) as compared to the pitch of the incremental scale track pattern TINC2, (e.g., 4.0 microns) the reference scale track pattern phase will match the incremental scale track pattern phase only at one specified point along a specified length (e.g., only matches at one point along a barker pattern length within the reference scale track pattern TREF2, as indicated by the phase markers PHS2A-PHS2D). This position where the phases match defines a particular incremental wavelength for the incremental scale track pattern TINC2.

As described above, by utilizing an incremental scale track pattern with a relatively fine pitch (e.g., 4 microns) which is imaged by structured light that is produced by a phase grating with a selected pitch (e.g., 5 microns), a modulated and spatially filtered pattern with a relatively coarse modulated image pitch (e.g., 20 microns) can be produced. It will be appreciated that in such an embodiment, a selected ratio (e.g., 5 to 1) exists between the modulated image pitch (e.g., 20 microns) and the pitch of the incremental scale track pattern (e.g., 4 microns). In selected embodiments, ratios of approximately 5 to 1 or higher (e.g., 10 to 1, 20 to 1, etc.) may be desired in order to allow a high resolution incremental scale track pattern to be utilized in an encoder configuration that was previously designed for a coarser incremental scale track pitch.

FIG. 11 is a table 1100 illustrating the parameters for various scale and detector track combinations for the encoder configuration of FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 11, for a first implementation, the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 is indicated as having a pitch of p=4 microns, and the associated phase grating creates structured light of a fringe period S=5 microns. The imaged fringe period resulting from the modulated and spatially filtered imaging is f=20 microns. An interpolation factor (which indicates the needed level of interpolation) is K=40. The detector elements are designated as having a pitch d=15 microns. It will be appreciated that in certain embodiments, the detector element pitch may be designated as being ¼, ⅓, ⅔, or ¾ of the fringe period f. In at least one embodiment, the detector element pitch may be made to be ¾ for a 20 micron fringe (as for the detector element pitch d=15 microns in the present example).

For the reference scale track pattern TREF2 in the first implementation, the pitch of the elements within each of the barker patterns is p′=4.1 microns, while the associated phase grating creates structured light with a fringe period S=5 microns (similar to that for the incremental scale track pattern). The imaged fringe period produced by the combination of the structured light from the phase grating through the reference scale track pattern produces a modulated and spatially filtered imaged fringe period f′=22.77 microns. The interpolation factor is K=40. The pitch of the detector elements is d′=17 microns. For the combined use of the incremental and reference scale track patterns, the Vernier synthetic wavelength (ff′/(f−f′)) equals 164 microns. The length of each of the barker patterns within the reference scale track pattern is L=136 microns (with 33 lines with the pitch p′=4.1 microns). It will be appreciated that in certain embodiments, the number of lines in the barker pattern may be required in order to form an adequately visible fringe (i.e., a significant enough portion of the beat frequency envelope), so that it can be properly detected as part of the modulated and spatially filtered image produced at the detector tracks. With regard to the number of detector elements in the image array per track and region, and their total length, for the incremental detector track DETINC1 there are 8 elements in each set (with a 120 micron total length), and for the reference detector track DETREF1, there are 8 elements in each set (with a 136 micron total length). The number of incremental cycles between the barker patterns is 150.

As shown in FIG. 11, for a second implementation, the incremental scale track pattern TINC2 is indicated as having a pitch of p=8 microns, and the associated phase grating creates structured light with a fringe period S=10 microns. The imaged fringe period resulting from the modulated and spatially filtered imaging is f=40 microns. The interpolation factor is K=27.6. The detector elements are designated as having a pitch d=10 microns. In at least one embodiment, the detector element pitch may be made to be ¼ for a 40 micron fringe (as for the detector element pitch d=10 microns in the present example).

For the reference scale track pattern TREF2 in the second implementation, the pitch of the elements within each of the barker patterns is p′=8.3 microns, while the associated phase grating creates structured light with a fringe period S=10 microns (similar to that for the incremental scale track pattern). The imaged fringe period produced by the combination of the structured light from the phase grating through the reference scale track pattern produces a modulated and spatially filtered imaged fringe period f′=48.8 microns. The interpolation factor is K=27.6. The pitch of the detector elements is d′=12.2 microns. For the combined use of the incremental and reference scale track patterns, the Vernier synthetic wavelength (ff′/(f−f′)) equals 221.3 microns. The length of each of the barker patterns within the reference scale track pattern is L=approximately 195 microns (with approximately 23 lines with the pitch p′=4.1 microns.) With regard to the number of detector elements in the image array per track and region and their total length, for the incremental detector track DETINC2, there are 16 elements in each set (with a 160 micron total length), and for the reference detector track DETREF2, there are 16 elements in each set (with a 195 micron total length). The number of incremental cycles between the barker patterns is 75.

FIG. 12 is a substantial copy of a figure included in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/535,561 (the '561 application) which is published as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2011/0031383 A1 (the '383 publication), and which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. FIG. 12 may be understood based on the disclosure of the '561 application, and will not be described in detail herein. However, the related teachings may be used in the context of the principles disclosed herein.

Briefly, FIG. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional diagram 1200 showing differing optical paths through an image channel 1280-1 of a doubly telecentric encoder imaging arrangement 1270-1 which is analogous to the doubly telecentric imaging configurations 380, 880, and 1380 shown herein. U.S. Pat. No. 7,307,789 (the '789 patent), which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, discloses various embodiments of doubly telecentric encoder configurations which utilize a second lens (or lens array) that is similar in form to a first lens (or lens array), and which is inverted relative to the first lens along an optical axis, such that lens aberrations of the two similar lenses approximately compensate one another to reduce aberrations in the resulting image. It should be appreciated that the teachings of the '789 patent address only compensating lens aberrations that cause spatial distortions in an image of a scale pattern; that is, distortion of the location of pattern features in the image. The embodiment shown in FIG. 12 may provide a similar type of correction of spatial distortions in an image when the first lens 1210-1 and second lens 1210-1′ have similar aberrations. However, a more subtle problem may occur, related to interference effects that may appear in the image due to lens aberrations. The '789 patent does not address this problem. The '561 application does address this problem, and its teachings are applicable in various embodiments herein, especially those teachings related to diffracted order ray blocking and aperture dimensions, which may be applied with appropriate adaptations in some embodiments according to the principles disclosed herein.

FIGS. 13A and 13B show a configuration 1300 that is another exemplary embodiment of a practical implementation of the encoder configuration according to the principles disclosed herein. Certain of the components and operating principles of the encoder configuration 1300 are approximately similar to those of the encoder configuration 300 of FIG. 3 and/or 800 of FIG. 8, and may generally be understood by analogy. For example, the 13XX series numbers in FIG. 13 that have the same “XX” suffix as 3XX series numbers in FIG. 3 may designate similar or identical elements, which may function similarly, except as otherwise described or implied below or in FIGS. 13A and 13B. In at least one embodiment, the dimensional relationships of the layout shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B are shown in realistic exemplary proportions relative to one another, although such relationships may be changed in various other embodiments. In at least one embodiment, for reference, the dimension DIMZ may be approximately 26.5 mm, and the dimension DIMY may be approximately 48 mm. The dimension GAP may be approximately 1 mm. Other approximate dimensions may be scaled based on these dimensions, in one exemplary embodiment. It will be appreciated that this embodiment is exemplary only, and not limiting.

As shown in FIG. 13A, the encoder configuration 1300 includes a scale element 1310, an illumination system or portion 1360, and a doubly telecentric imaging configuration 1380. The illumination system or portion 1360 includes a light source 1330 (e.g., a laser diode, LED, or the like) for emitting visible or invisible wavelengths of light 1331 (e.g., 655 micron wavelength, for a laser, in at least one embodiment), an aperture 1335, a collimating lens 1340 (or approximately collimating, at least in the XY plane), a polarizing beam splitter 1390, a beam dump 1392, a reflector 1342, an aperture element 1345, a reflector 1344, a phase grating 1350, and a beam splitter 1355. The doubly telecentric imaging configuration 1380 comprises a first lens 1381 at a first lens plane, an aperture 1382 in an aperture component 1382′ at an aperture plane, a second lens 1383 at a second lens plane and detector electronics 1320 at a detector plane DP. The detector electronics 1320 may be connected to signal-generating and processing circuitry (not shown). The light source 1330 may be connected to the signal-generating and processing circuitry by power and signal connections (not shown).

In operation, light 1331 (e.g., primary light) emitted from the light source 1330 is transmitted through the aperture 1335, which may block stray portions of the light 1331. In at least one embodiment, the aperture 1335 may have a diameter of 4 mm. The transmitted light may be nearly or fully collimated by the lens 1340 and is directed through the beam splitter 1390. Z-polarized light is passed by the polarizing beamsplitter 1390 as light 1331Z. The polarizing beam splitter 1390 is configured to prevent stray light from being reflected back to the light source 1330. Such stray light is reflected by the polarizing beam splitter 1390 as a beam 1391 which is directed to a beam dump 1392.

The light 1331Z passes through a quarter wave plate 1393, which converts Z-polarized incident light to R circularly polarized light 1331C. Light which may be reflected along the optical path by subsequently encountered elements returns as L circularly polarized light, and becomes X-polarized as it passes back through the quarter wave plate 1393. Such X-polarized reflected light is blocked by the polarizing beamsplitter 1390, and directed to the beam dump 1392, such that it does not return to disrupt the light source 1330 or create other extraneous light rays.

The light 1331C is reflected by the reflector 1342 and directed through the aperture element 1345 which shapes the light beam 1331C such that it will illuminate a desired portion (e.g., a desired track portion) of the scale 1310 after it is reflected by the reflector 1344 and passes through the phase grating 1350 to become the diffracted structured light 1331′. In at least one embodiment, the aperture 1345 may have an X dimension of 6 mm and a Y dimension of 1.5 mm.

In at least one embodiment where the light source 1330 is a laser diode emitting 655 micron wavelength light, the scale element may have a grating pitch of 4.00 microns and the phase grating 1350 may have a grating pitch of 4.44 microns and be configured to block zero order light. The resulting amplitude modulation may have a period of approximately 20 microns.

Then, the scale element 1310 reflects the diffracted structured light from its scale grating elements to provide the scale light 1332, which includes the previously described modulation, and is directed through the beam splitter 1355 to be imaged onto the detector 1320 by the doubly telecentric imaging configuration 1380, which may function according to previously outlined principles, to spatially filter the scale light 1332, such that the period of the amplitude modulation, which approximately matches the spatial filtering period of the detector elements of the detector 1320, is the primary intensity modulation of the scale light 1332 that finally causes the signal variation in the signals of the detector 1320. In at least one embodiment, the aperture 1382 of the doubly telecentric imaging configuration 1380 may have a diameter of approximately 1 mm in order to block zero order and + first-order components of the scale light 1332 and provide the desired filtering of the spatial frequency components of the scale light 1332 that have a higher spatial frequency than the amplitude modulation component. Another way of describing this is that the aperture 1382 is configured to prevent imaging of the phase grating and/or the scale grating.

FIG. 14 shows a reference diagram of various beam paths in an exemplary embodiment of an encoder configuration 1400 which includes a coherent light source. Certain of the components and operating principles of the encoder configuration 1400 are approximately similar to those of the encoder configuration 300 of FIG. 3 and/or 800 of FIG. 8, and may generally be understood by analogy. For example, the 14XX series numbers in FIG. 14 that have the same “XX” suffix as 3XX series numbers in FIG. 3 may designate similar or identical elements, which may function similarly, except as otherwise described or implied below or in FIG. 14. As shown in FIG. 14, the light source emits source light 1431. A phase grating 1450 splits the source light into structured illumination 1431′ comprising various diffractive order ray bundles. FIG. 14 shows +1 order ray bundle 1431 p and −1 order ray bundle 1431 n that interfere to provide an illumination fringe pitch Pi. It should be appreciated that additional orders of ray bundles are present in the structured illumination 1431′. However, only the +1 order and −1 order are shown in FIG. 14 for the sake of simplicity. The scale 1410 comprises a scale pitch Pg. The scale 1410 receives the structured illumination 1431′ and outputs scale light 1432 comprising fringes with an envelope comprising a period Pe. The period Pe may be derived in terms of the scale fringe pitch Pi and the scale pitch Pg as Pe=PgPi/(2Pi−Pg). It should be appreciated that the denominator contains a term 2Pi, which is Pi in the case of incoherent light.

FIG. 15 is a partially schematic exploded diagram of an encoder configuration 1500 that includes an alternative embodiment of an illumination portion 1560. With the exception of the illumination portion 1560, the components and operating principles of the encoder configuration 300 are approximately similar to those of the encoder configuration 300 of FIG. 3, and may generally be understood by analogy. For example, 15XX series numbers in FIG. 15 that have the same “XX” suffix as 3XX series numbers in FIG. 3 may designate similar or identical elements, which may function similarly, except as otherwise described or implied below. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 15, the encoder configuration 1500 is configured such that the illumination portion 1560 (more specifically, the aperture configuration 1572) suppresses or eliminates the transmission of unwanted orders of light to the scale grating 1510 and only allows the wanted orders (e.g., only ±1 orders). This improves signal quality of the encoder configuration 1500, in comparison to previously disclosed configurations. The inventors have determined that for the encoder configurations disclosed herein, residual orders of light lead to periodic irregularities in the resulting signals at the detectors, including irregularities related to zero order light in the structured illumination interacting with the scale grating. It has been found that such irregularities may appear in alternate periods of the signals at the detectors, rather than appearing in every period of the signal, which reduces the ability to accurately compensate and/or interpolate the resulting signals. The illumination configurations disclosed below are therefore of particular value in combination with the encoder configurations taught herein, although their utility is not limited to such configurations.

In addition to the components 1530, 1540, and 1550, the operation of which may be understood based on the previous description of analogous components, the illumination portion 1560 further comprises a first filtering lens 1571, a spatial filtering aperture configuration 1572 positioned approximately at a focal plane of the first filtering lens 1571, a second filtering lens 1573 positioned at a plane which is located approximately at a distance equal to its focal length from the spatial filtering aperture configuration 1572. In operation, the illumination grating 1550 outputs diffracted structured light 1531′ in a manner similar to FIG. 3. The diffracted structured light 1531′ is focused by the first illumination lens 1571 at a plane of the spatial filtering aperture configuration 1572. The spatial filtering aperture configuration 1572 is configured to block zero order diffracted light from the diffracted structured light 1531′ using a central portion 1572 c and to block higher order diffracted light with edges of the aperture configuration 1572, and transmit spatially filtered structured illumination 1531″ which comprises only +1 and −1 order diffracted light components using an open aperture portion 1572 op. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 15, the spatial filtering aperture configuration 1572 is configured with the central portion 1572 c surrounded by the open aperture portion 1572 op comprising symmetrically placed slits. In some alternative embodiments, a spatial filtering aperture configuration may comprise a central circular stop surrounded by an annular aperture. The second illumination lens 1573 receives the spatially filtered structured light 1531 and outputs the spatially filtered structured illumination 1531″ which consists of the +1 and −1 order diffracted light components to the scale pattern 1515 at a plane coinciding with the scale grating 1510. The dimensions along the measuring axis direction of the central portion 1572 c and the open aperture portion 1572 op may be determined by analysis or experiment, and are generally selected to block zero order light and transmit +/− first-order diffracted light in this particular example, respectively, as outlined above.

It should be appreciated that zero order light output from the scale grating 1510 may be suppressed or eliminated by the imaging portion 1580, or more specifically the aperture configuration limiting aperture 1582 may be configured to spatially filter zero order light. However, in exemplary embodiments, the first filtering lens 1571 may focus light to the spatial filtering aperture configuration 1572 with an angle (e.g., 1°) about ten times larger than the angle at the limiting aperture 1582 (e.g., 0.1°). In such embodiments, the limiting aperture 1582 is much more sensitive to misalignment than the spatial filtering aperture configuration 1572. Therefore, it is more advantageous to block zero order light within the illumination portion 1560 than in the imaging portion 1580. Furthermore, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 15, the illumination grating 1550 may be an amplitude grating (in contrast with the phase grating 350), which reduces the cost of manufacturing the encoder configuration 1500. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the encoder configuration 300 has a practical limit on how far the scale pattern 315 may be placed from the phase grating 350. If the scale pattern 315 is placed too far away from the phase grating 350, then two diffractive orders (e.g., +1 and −1 orders) may not overlap and will not interfere in order to provide diffracted structured light 331′. However, the illumination portion 1560 is configured to image diffracted structured light 1531′ from a plane approximately coinciding with the illumination grating 1550. This allows for a larger operating gap than the encoder configuration 300. This also allows for the illumination portion 1560 to more efficiently provide source light because the interfering orders overlap the most at the plane of the illumination grating 1550. If desired, the modulated image pitch P_(IMESF) may be adjusted by selecting an appropriate combination of the first filtering lens 1571 and the second filtering lens 1573 with focal lengths selected to give a desired pitch P_(MI) of the illuminated fringe pitch pattern IFP. Compared to the configuration disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/717,586, this provides an extra degree of design freedom for configuring the encoder 1500 such that the resulting modulated image pitch of the spatially filtered pattern matches the pitch of a predetermined given detector. The modulated image pitch P_(MI) may be chosen, for example, to provide desired relationships between the scale pitch P_(SF) and the modulated image pitch P_(IMESF) according to principles outlined in FIGS. 4A-4D.

FIG. 16 is a drawing of an illumination portion 1660 which may be used in a reflective encoder configuration 1600 according to the principles disclosed herein. The components and operating principles of the encoder configuration 1600 are approximately similar to those of the encoder configuration 1500 of FIG. 15, and may generally be understood by analogy. For example, 16XX series numbers in FIG. 16 that have the same “XX” suffix as 15XX series numbers in FIG. 15 may designate similar or identical elements, which may function similarly, except as otherwise described or implied below. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 16, the illumination portion 1660 additionally comprises a polarizer 1676, a polarizing beam splitter 1677, and a quarter wave plate 1678. In contrast with the encoder configuration 1500 which is a transmissive configuration, the encoder configuration 1600 is a reflective configuration. The transmissive configuration 1500 may be readily adapted to a reflective configuration analogous to that described with reference to FIG. 16, or by analogy with other reflective configurations disclosed herein. However, the addition of polarizers according to the principles taught with reference to FIG. 16 provides a more efficient use of light, as described in greater detail below. Such a use of polarizers may be adapted for use in conjunction with any compatible embodiment described herein.

In operation, the polarizer 1676 inputs coherent collimated light 1631 from a lens 1640 and outputs collimated light which is linearly polarized. The polarizing beamsplitter 1677 reflects spatially filtered structured illumination 1631″ from the second filtering lens 1673 to the quarter wave plate 1678. The quarter wave plate 1678 circularly polarizes the spatially filtered structured illumination 1631″ from the second filtering lens 1673 and outputs it to the scale pattern 1615. The scale pattern 1615 reflects spatially modulated image light 1632 with a circular polarization to the quarter wave plate 1678. The quarter wave plate 1678 inputs the spatially modulated image light 1632 with a circular polarization and outputs the spatially modulated image light 1632 to the polarizing beam splitter 1677 with a linear polarization which is rotated 90 degrees with respect to the structured illumination 1631″ input from the second filtering lens 1673. The polarizing beam splitter 1677 transmits the spatially modulated image light 1632 with a linear polarization to the imaging portion 1680. Because the quarter wave plate 1678 returns spatially modulated image light 1632 to the polarizing beams splitter 1677 with a polarization rotated by 90 degrees (thus matching the polarization direction to transmit through the beam splitter 1677), this increases the amount of light output to the imaging portion 1680 by a factor of four compared to a configuration lacking the quarter wave plate 1678.

FIG. 17 is a drawing of an illumination portion 1760 which may be used in an encoder configuration 1700 according to the principles disclosed herein. The components and operating principles of the encoder configuration 1700 are approximately similar to those of the encoder configuration 300 of FIG. 3, and may generally be understood by analogy. For example, 17XX series numbers in FIG. 17 that have the same “XX” suffix as 3XX series numbers in FIG. 3 may designate similar or identical elements, which may function similarly, except as otherwise described or implied below.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 17, the encoder configuration 1700 is configured such that the illumination portion 1760 transmits only wanted orders (e.g., only ±1 orders) to a portion of a scale track 1715 which is imaged by an imaging configuration 1780 to a detector configuration 1725. As shown in FIG. 17, a light source 1730 is configured to output source light 1731 having a wavelength λ. In some embodiments, the light source 1730 may comprise one of a laser diode, a spatially coherent LED and a series of independent linear sources arranged perpendicular to the measuring axis direction 82 (e.g., an LED point source masked with slits or a grating with spacing or a period that provides spatially coherent source light 1731 linear sources that contribute cumulatively to an interference fringe pattern IFP). A collimation portion 1740 (i.e., a collimating lens) is arranged to collimate the source light 1731. A structured illumination generating portion 1770 is configured to input the source light 1731 and provide structured illumination 1731′, wherein the structured illumination 1731′ comprises an illumination fringe pattern IFP oriented transversely to the measuring axis direction 82 which is input to the scale track 1715. The scale track 1715 is configured to spatially modulate the input illumination fringe pattern IFP and output scale light comprising spatially modulated image light. The detector configuration 1725 and imaging configuration 1780 are configured such that only scale light arising from an imaged region IR of the scale track 1715 is imaged to the detector configuration 1780. The operations of the imaging configuration 1780 and the detector configuration 1725 are analogous to those of the imaging configuration 380 and the detector configuration 325 and may be understood by analogy to the descriptions thereof. The structured illumination generating portion 1770 comprises a beam separating portion 1771 and an illumination grating 1750. The beam separating portion comprises a beam splitter 1777 and a reflector 1778. In the particular embodiment shown in FIG. 17, the collimation portion 1740 is located between the light source 1730 and the beam separating portion 1771, but in other embodiments a collimation portion may be located in other positions between a light source and an illumination grating. For example, in alternative embodiments, the collimation portion 1740 may be located between the beam separating portion 1771 and the illumination grating 1750. In some embodiments, a collimation portion may be arranged to collimate the first source light portion and second source light portion that are output to the illumination grating. The beam separating portion 1771 is arranged to input the source light 1731 and is configured to output a first source light portion 1731A and a second source light portion 1731B to the illumination grating 1750, such that the first source light portion 1731A and the second source light portion 1731B form beams that are spaced apart from one another along the measuring axis direction 82. More specifically, a beam splitting surface 1775 of the beam splitter 1777 is configured to receive the source light 1731 and reflect the first source light portion 1731A along a first beam path and transmit the second source light portion 1731B toward the reflector 1778. The reflector 1778 is configured to reflect the second source light portion 1731B along a second beam path that is spaced apart from the first beam path. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 17, the beam splitting surface 1775 and the reflector 1778 are parallel and are surfaces of separate elements. Because they are parallel, the first source light portion 1731A and the second source light portion 1731B are parallel at a plane proximate to the illumination grating 1750. In some embodiments (e.g., the embodiment shown in FIG. 19), the beam splitting surface 1775 and the reflector 1778 may be surfaces of the same beam splitting element. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 17, the first and second beam paths are approximately perpendicular to the illumination grating. The illumination grating 1750 is configured to diffract the first and second source light portions 1731A and 1731B across an operating gap to the scale track 1715 such that only two orders of diffracted light (i.e., a + first order diffracted light portion 1731A′ from the first source light portion 1731A and a − first order diffracted light portion 1731B′ from the second source light portion 1731B in the embodiment shown in FIG. 17) overlap within an imaged region IR at a plane coinciding with the scale track 1715, and provide the illumination fringe pattern IFP in the imaged region IR. In contrast with the embodiments shown in FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, the illumination portion 1760 outputs zero order light portions 1731ZA′ and 1731ZB′ which reach the scale track 1715. However, the zero order light portions 1731ZA′ and 1731ZB′ fall completely outside the imaged region IR that is imaged to the detector configuration 1725. Therefore, despite the fact that they are not blocked, the zero order light portions 1731ZA′ and 1731ZB′ do not contribute unwanted zero order light to the operational signals associated with the illumination fringe pattern IFP at the imaged region of the scale track 1715 that is imaged by the imaging configuration 1780 to the detector configuration 1725.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 17, the beam separating portion 1771 may additionally comprise an optional dual beam aperture element 1772. The dual beam aperture element 1772 comprises two apertures configured to transmit the first source light portion 1731A and the second source light portion 1731B while the dual beam aperture element 1772 reduces unwanted stray light, and may also refine the location and spacing of the first source light portion 1731A and the second source light portion 1731B that reach the scale track 1715.

As shown in FIG. 17, the imaged region IR has a dimension D along the measuring axis direction, the first source light portion 1731A and the second source light portion 1731B are spaced apart from one another along the measuring axis direction 82 at the plane proximate to the illumination grating 1750 by a separation distance B, and the separation distance B is equal to or greater than the imaged region dimension D. The first source light portion 1731A has a width W1 and the second source light portion 1731B has a width W2 at the plane proximate to the illumination grating 1750. Both W1 and W2 are greater than the imaged region dimension D. This allows the imaged region to be filled with a spatially modulated illumination fringe pattern according to previously described principles, while the zero order light portions 1732ZA and 1732ZB are separated by a sufficient distance at a plane proximate to the scale track 1715, such that they may not overlap the +1 order portion 1732A and the −1 order portion 1732B and, more importantly, fall outside of the imaged region.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 17, the first source light portion 1731A and the second source light portion 1731B are parallel at a plane proximate to the illumination grating. It should be appreciated that in some embodiments, the two are not parallel, but a gap distance Between the illumination grating 1750 and the scale track 1715 and/or periods of the illumination grating 1750 or gratings of the scale track 1715 may be adjusted accordingly to obtain a desired fringe period of the interference fringe pattern IFP imaged to the detector configuration 1725.

FIG. 18 is a drawing of an illumination portion 1860 which may be used in an encoder configuration 1800 according to the principles disclosed herein. The components and operating principles of the encoder configuration 1800 are approximately similar to those of the encoder configuration 1700 of FIG. 17, and may generally be understood by analogy. For example, 18XX series numbers in FIG. 18 that have the same “XX” suffix as 17XX series numbers in FIG. 17 may designate similar or identical elements, which may function similarly, except as otherwise described or implied below.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 18, a light source 1830 is configured to output source light 1831 to a collimating lens 1840 which is configured to collimate the source light 1831. The illumination portion 1860 comprises a beam separation portion 1871 which consists of an aperture element 1872 comprising an open dual aperture portion 1872 op. The aperture 1872 element is configured to separate a first source light portion 1831A and a second source light portion 1831B of the source light 1831 and output them to the illumination grating 1850, such that they form beams that are spaced apart from one another along the measuring axis direction 82 according to previously outlined principles. In particular, they are configured such that only two orders of diffracted light (i.e., a +1 order portion 1831A′ and a −1 order portion 1831W) overlap within the imaged region IR at a plane coinciding with the scale track 1815. The zero order light portions 1832ZA and 1832ZB do not contribute unwanted zero order light to the operational signals associated with the illumination fringe pattern IFP at the imaged region of the scale track 1815.

FIG. 19 is a drawing of an illumination portion 1960 which may be used in an encoder configuration 1900 according to the principles disclosed herein. The components and operating principles of the encoder configuration 1900 are approximately similar to those of the encoder configuration 1700 of FIG. 17, and may generally be understood by analogy. For example, 19XX series numbers in FIG. 19 that have the same “XX” suffix as 17XX series numbers in FIG. 17 may designate similar or identical elements, which may function similarly, except as otherwise described or implied below.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 19, a structured illumination generating portion 1970 comprises a beam separation portion 1971 which comprises a shear plate 1977. The shear plate 1977 is configured to reflect a first source light portion 1931A at a first region of a first surface 1977A and to transmit a second source light portion 1931B that is reflected from a second surface 1977B and output at a second region of the first surface 1977A. An illumination grating 1950 is configured to input the first source light portion 1931A and the second source light portion 1931B such that the first source light portion 1931A and the second source light portion 1931B form beams that are spaced apart from one another along the measuring axis direction 82 according to previously outlined principles. Reflectivity values of the first surface 1977A and the second surface 1977B may be adjusted to give approximately equal intensities in the first source light portion 1931A and the second source light portion 1931B. For example, the first surface 1977A may have approximately 25% reflectivity and the second surface 1977B may have approximately 100% reflectivity. In another exemplary embodiment, the first surface 1977A may have 50% reflectivity, the second surface 1977B may have 100% reflectivity, and a front surface 1977C may have 0% reflectivity where the second source light portion 1931B exits the shear plate 1977. The beam-separating portion 1971 is configured such that only two orders of diffracted light (i.e., a + first order portion 1931A′ and a − first order portion 1931W) overlap within the imaged region IR at a plane coinciding with the scale track 1915. The zero order light portions 1931ZA′ and 1931ZB′ do not contribute unwanted zero order light to the operational signals associated with the illumination fringe pattern IFP at the imaged region of the scale track 1915.

FIG. 20 is a drawing of an illumination portion 2060 which may be used in an encoder configuration 1900 according to the principles disclosed herein. The components and operating principles of the encoder configuration 1900 are approximately similar to those of the encoder configuration 1900 of FIG. 19, and may generally be understood by analogy. For example, 20XX series numbers in FIG. 20 that have the same “XX” suffix as 19XX series numbers in FIG. 19 may designate similar or identical elements, which may function similarly, except as otherwise described or implied below.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 20, the illumination portion 2060 comprises beam separation portion 2071 which comprises a first beam directing element 2077 and a second beam directing element 2078. The first beam directing element 2077 is configured to reflect a first source light portion 2031A from a first surface 2077A and to transmit a second source light portion 2031B that is reflected from a second surface 2077B and output to the second beam directing element 2078. The second beam directing element 2078 is configured to reflect the second source light portion 2031B from a surface 2078A to the illumination grating 2050 and to reflect the first source light portion 2031A from a surface 2078C to the illumination grating 2050. In some embodiments, the first beam directing element 2077 is a shearing plate. In some embodiments, the second beam directing element 2078 is a shearing plate. In some embodiments, the surface 2078A comprises a reflective coating, which is useful in embodiments where the beam directing element 2078 is a shearing plate because this avoids an additional source light portion being transmitted through the surface 2078A and thus prevents the second source light portion 2031B from splitting into two source light portions. In some embodiments, the second beam directing element 2078 is configured to transmit the first source light portion 2031A through an antireflective surface 2078B. In some embodiments, the surface 2078A and the antireflective surface 2078B may be configured according to similar combinations of reflectivity values as those described with respect to the first surface 1977A and the second surface 1977B in FIG. 19. The antireflective surface 2078B is useful when the beam directing element 2078 is a shearing plate, as this avoids an additional source light portion being reflected from the beam directing element 2078 thus prevents the first source light portion 2031A from splitting into two source light portions. In lieu of a 100% reflective coating on the antireflective surface 2078B, an aperture similar to the dual beam aperture element 1772 of FIG. 17 may be used to block unwanted light from a split light portion. The illumination portion 2060 is advantageous in that the first source light portion 2031A and the second source light portion 2031B have equal optical pathlengths and wavelength dependence.

In some embodiments, the second beam directing element 2078 may comprise the reflective surface 2078A and a compensation prism 2078D (shown in dotted lines). In such embodiments, the reflective surface 2078A may be a mirror and the compensation may be configured such that the first source light portion 2031A and the second source light portion 2031B have equal optical pathlengths and wavelength dependence.

FIG. 21 is a drawing of an illumination portion 2160 which may be used in an encoder configuration 2100 according to the principles disclosed herein. The components and operating principles of the encoder configuration 2100 are approximately similar to those of the encoder configuration 1700 of FIG. 17, and may generally be understood by analogy. For example, 21XX series numbers in FIG. 21 that have the same “XX” suffix as 17XX series numbers in FIG. 17 may designate similar or identical elements, which may function similarly, except as otherwise described or implied below.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 21, the illumination portion 2160 comprises a beam separation portion 2171 which comprises a first grating 2190, a second grating 2191, a blocking element 2192, and an aperture element 2193. The first grating 2190 is configured to split the source light 2131 into a first source light portion 2131A and a second source light portion 2131B which are +1 and −1 orders (or higher symmetrically matched orders) of light diffracted from the first grating 2190. The blocking element 2192 is configured to block any zero order components from the first grating 2190. The second grating 2191 (which comprises the same period as first grating 2190 in some embodiments) is configured to receive the first source light portion 2131A and the second source light portion 2131B and output a first parallel collimated light portion 2131A′ and a second parallel collimated light portion 2131W which are parallel to one another. The aperture element 2193 is configured to receive the first parallel collimated light portion 2131A′ and the second parallel collimated light portion 2131W and transmit them to the illumination grating 2150 while filtering out any additional orders of light diffracted from the second grating 2191. In some embodiments, for the highest efficiency, the first grating 2190 and the second grating 2191 may be phase gratings.

FIG. 22 is a drawing of an illumination portion 2260 which may be used in a reflective encoder configuration 2200 according to the principles disclosed herein. The components and operating principles of the encoder configuration 200 are approximately similar to those of the encoder configuration 2100 of FIG. 21, and may generally be understood by analogy. For example, 22XX series numbers in FIG. 22 that have the same “XX” suffix as 21XX series numbers in FIG. 21 may designate similar or identical elements, which may function similarly, except as otherwise described or implied below.

The illumination portion 2260 incorporates many of the same elements of the illumination portion 2160 shown in FIG. 21 in a compact optical arrangement utilizing reflective rather than transmissive grating elements.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 22, the illumination portion 2260 comprises a light source 2230, a collimating lens 2240, and a structured illumination generating portion 2270 comprising a beam separation portion 2271 which comprises a first grating 2290, a second grating 2291, a blocking element 2292, an aperture element 2293, and a reflector 2241. The light source 2230 is configured to output source light 2231 to the collimating lens 2240. The collimating lens 2240 is configured to collimate the source light 2231 and output it to the reflector 2241. The reflector 2241 is configured to reflect the source light 2231 to the first grating 2290. The first grating 2290 is configured to split the source light 2231 into a first source light portion 2231A and a second source light portion 2231B which are +1 and −1 orders (or higher symmetrically matched orders) of light diffracted from the first grating 2290. The blocking element 2292 is configured to block any zero order components from the first grating 2290. The second grating 2291 is configured to receive the first source light portion 2231A and the second source light portion 2231B and output a first parallel collimated light portion 2231AP and a second parallel collimated light portion 2231BP which are parallel to one another. The aperture element 2293 is configured to receive the first parallel collimated light portion 2231AP and the second parallel collimated light portion 2231BP and transmit them to the illumination grating 2250 while filtering out any additional orders of light diffracted from the second grating 2291.

The imaging configuration 2280 comprises a first lens 2281, an aperture 2282, a second lens 2283, and a reflector 2240. The reflector 2241 is configured to reflect scale light 2232 to the imaging configuration 2280.

While various embodiments have been illustrated and described, numerous variations in the illustrated and described arrangements of features and sequences of operations will be apparent to one skilled in the art based on this disclosure. Thus, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. An illumination portion for an optical encoder which comprises a scale track extending along a measuring axis direction, an imaging configuration, and a detector configuration, the illumination portion comprising: a light source configured to output source light having a wavelength λ; and a structured illumination-generating portion configured to input the source light and provide structured illumination, wherein the structured illumination comprises an illumination fringe pattern oriented transversely to the measuring axis direction which is input to the scale track, wherein: the scale track is configured to spatially modulate the input illumination fringe pattern and output scale light comprising spatially modulated image light; the detector configuration and imaging configuration are configured such that only scale light arising from an imaged region of the scale track is imaged to the detector configuration; the structured illumination-generating portion comprises a beam-separating portion and an illumination grating; the beam-separating portion is arranged to input the source light and is configured to output a first source light portion and a second source light portion to the illumination grating, such that the first and second source light portions form beams that are spaced apart from one another along the measuring axis direction at a plane proximate to the illumination grating; and the illumination grating is configured to diffract the first and second source light portions across an operating gap to the scale track such that only two orders of diffracted light overlap within the imaged region at a plane coinciding with the scale track, and provide the illumination fringe pattern in the imaged region.
 2. The illumination portion of claim 1, wherein: the imaged region has a dimension D along the measuring axis direction, the first source light portion and the second source light portion are spaced apart from one another along the measuring axis direction at the plane proximate to the illumination grating by a separation distance B, and the separation distance B is equal to or greater than the imaged region dimension D.
 3. The illumination portion of claim 2, wherein the first source light portion and the second source light portion each have a dimension along the measuring axis direction, at the plane proximate to the illumination grating, that is greater than the imaged region dimension D.
 4. The illumination portion of claim 1, comprising a collimation portion arranged to collimate the source light that is input to the beam-separating portion.
 5. The illumination portion of claim 1, comprising a collimation portion arranged to collimate the first source light portion and second source light portion that are output to the illumination grating.
 6. The illumination portion of claim 1, wherein the two orders of diffracted light that overlap within the imaged region at a plane coinciding with the scale track are a + first order diffracted light from the first source light portion and a − first order diffracted light from the second source light portion.
 7. The illumination portion of claim 1, wherein: the beam-separating portion comprises a first beam splitting surface and a reflective surface; the beam splitting surface is configured to receive the source light source and reflect the first source light portions along a first beam path and transmit the second source light portion toward the reflective surface; and the reflective surface is configured to reflect the second source light portion along a second beam path that is spaced apart from first beam path.
 8. The illumination portion of claim 7, wherein the beam splitting surface and the reflective surface are parallel.
 9. The illumination portion of claim 7, wherein the beam splitting surface and the reflective surface are surfaces of separate elements.
 10. The illumination portion of claim 7, wherein the beam splitting surface and the reflective surface are surfaces of the same beam splitting element.
 11. The illumination portion of claim 10, wherein the beam splitting element is a shearing plate.
 12. The illumination portion of claim 7, wherein: the first and second beam paths are approximately perpendicular to the illumination grating. 